Oh those bases on balls. The Norfolk pitching staff gave up seven free passes and only five singles as the Tides were eliminated by the Toledo Mud Hens, 5-3, in Game Five of the International League Playoffs.

Mike Hessman became the first Hens’ base runner after a walk in the second inning off Tides starter Jose Santiago, the first of seven by Norfolk pitching. Alexis Gomez pushed Hessman to second with a sacrifice bunt and, with two outs, Jack Hannahan slapped an RBI single up the middle to give the Hens the first run of the game.

After Dewayne Wise was hit by a pitch to lead off the third, Marcus Thames followed with a walk. A Gomez groundball left Toledo with men at the corners and two outs. Ryan Raburn capitalized on a Gomez stolen base by smacking a single up the gut that scored both runners. Don Kelly made the score 4-0 Hens with an RBI single that scored Raburn.

Norfolk tallied their first run of the game with a pair of singles in the fourth off Toledo southpaw Wil Ledezma. However, the Tides pitching staff gave the run right back to the Hens the following inning. A single by Ryan Raburn sandwiched inside a pair of walks loaded the bases, and Hessman came home on a wild pitch that allowed Toledo to regain its three-run edge.

The Tides roughed up the Hens in the sixth, narrowing the score to 5-3. After Corey Hamman gave up a walk and a single, Ennis allowed one-out RBI singles to Rodney Nye and Ron Calloway. John Ennis stopped the bleeding by getting Chris Basak to fly out and striking out Joe Hieptas to end the Tides rally.

Ledezma earned the win Sunday night by going 5.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits and three walks while striking out two. The bullpen followed with four solid innings; Ennis pitching out of a jam in the sixth while Mark Woodyard contributed two shutout innings, striking out four, and Jason Karnuth claimed his third save of the post-season with a 1-2-3 ninth.